I’m getting restless. I was just getting into the full swing of studying and now I have to stop?? I want to study!
I’m not 100% thrilled with my performance on MFE. Although I feel there is a good chance I passed, I SHOULD have been able to answer almost every question there. I put in a lot of hours, but for some reason I don’t think I ever got 100% full steam on this exam until the last two weeks. I can only speculate, but I feel that three reasons for that were: 1. I had a ton more time that I did previously, 2. I got derailed for a week at a time a couple of times due to “life” and 3. The material (especially the practice problems) just wasn’t that interesting to me.
Another factor that I think came into play is that I was missing the internal drive that pushed me for P and FM. When I was taking those, I was trying to accomplish and prove something. In effect, I had a type of negative energy fueling me – I was pushing against something. I wanted to get out of my job, get a new job, prove I could do something incredibly difficult. With MFE, I really only had positive energy fueling me – I already had the actuarial job and was in a supportive environment, it is expected that I won’t pass an exam or two, and I was given study hours. Now, you are going to think I’m crazy, but while those things helped me, they don’t help give me the internal fuel. I guess I really respond much better to proving something or pushing against something that just doing something that I am given ample help doing. Now, not to say I don’t want the situation I’m in – I do – but it certainly was an adjustment to figure out how to fuel my efforts.
That being said, I still feel I did adequate preparation, and the study time and support I was given was essential to getting where I got with the material. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to learn nearly as much as I did.
Given the above and the fact that I’m not 100% sure I passed this time around, I feel the fire in my belly again. Right now, I am starting to look at the C material and feel the same kind of drive I felt when I first began to look at the P material. Exam C would be a definite challenge for me, requiring the same amount of effort I put into P, and I believe the material would be as interesting as P was as well. Also, on the chance I do fail MFE, the C window is 3 weeks before MFE, allowing me some time to get back into MFE and take it again.
I have begun to look at the Loss Models textbook and some youtube videos to provide some background on the early topics. I will make another post in the near future with exactly what I have reviewed and some comments on the material. If I do decide to jump in and really study Exam C, I will order The Infinite Actuary course as well. I really liked the instructor when he taught P, and have been looking forward to his course on C.
I think the next week or so will really help me decide if I am going to go into this full speed or take a break. I can’t really do that with MLC, because if I did fail MFE it would be more difficult to take both, as the exams would likely be only a week apart at best (the MLC date hasn’t been released yet).
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